We are getting great at reading our little books and sight words. In school we have been practising the words and our letter sounds by playing lots of games and activities. We play them at stations around the classroom and when the bell rings we move on to the next station. 

Paul Flynn and Darren Daly came to visit the children in the Junior School with the Sam Maguire cup. Room 7 had front row seats in the hall for the great occasion.  

We had a Halloween party in Room 7. We played lots of great games including Apple on a string, Pin the wart on the witch and had nut races on the floor. There were lots of superheros, princess and scary characters in school that day and it was lots of fun.

Our theme for Aistear in October was Halloween. We made spooky skeletons and play doh pumpkins. There was a witches' potion shop in the Role Play corner where the witches and wizards made their own spells and magic potions - most of which were intended to make Ms Boylan disappear! The children also built haunted castles with blocks and sequenced the story Room on the Broom.

In room 7 we love to play and what better way to learn than to put what we have learnt into practice through play. Using a thematic approach we spend lots of time playing in the role play corner, the small world, at the art table and in the sand tray. In September we were learning all about MYSELF so we made play doh faces. We also spent time exploring our home and families in the small world (dolls house) and the role play corner (playing families at home)

Each week we meet a new Letterland character. We do lots of handwriting activities to practice the new letters. They include tracing the play doh letter, driving the shape of the letter with small cars and writing the letter on white and chalk boards. 

In September the children spent lots of time making sets of objects. They made sets of things that were the same colour or the same shape etc. 
We also met Danny and Zeb and their friends Josh and Emma who we will be reading about in our Big Box readers this year. 

I am introducing the topic of  money in school at the minute. The children have examined money and sorted it into sets of coins that are the same. It would be great if the children could help you at the shops and get an opportunity to use money in real life experiences.